Donald Trump

Trump vs. Schwarzenegger vs. Jesus's Sacrifice

The president is an unserious man who is wielding a huge amount of power. Will a GOP Congress keep him in check?

|

Large image on homepages

From the Twitter feed of scientist Alice Dreger comes this…this…I don't really know what to call it, to be honest.

For those who think our new president is a cold and uncaring man, this at least shows he is capable not of empathy per se but of at least taking note of other people's sufferings. And adding to them.

And there's this, from the former governor of California:

And somewhere in heaven, Jesus is tweeting smdh.

As Donald Trump once said in a different context, "These are foolish people."

The real question in these early days will be who in the Republican Party will generally stand up to and rein Trump. Folks such as Mike Lee, the Utah senator who started the Article I project to reel in executive power and put Congress back in charge of lawmaking and spending priorities, need to step up their game fast. Otherwise the GOP will be little more than waterboys for a fundamentally unserious man who can do a hell of a lot of damage to all aspects of the United States and the world. Here's Lee talking last summer about the need for a strong Congress. Judge him and his colleagues by whether they deliver, especially with a Republican in the White House.

NEXT: Neil Gorsuch Follows Justice Scalia's Footsteps on Criminal Justice

Nick Gillespie is an editor at large at Reason.

Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time. Report abuses.

  1. chemjeff

    Uh-oh, Nick. You know that you aren’t supposed to say bad things about Trump. Everyone knows that Reason is supposed to be loyal footsoldiers in the tribal war against the Left.

    1. KDN

      It looks like you’re arguing with yourself. Which sock went down the memory hole this time?

      1. chemjeff

        A couple of them, evidently.

        1. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

          And now you look like a crazy person, chemjeff 🙂 What were the usernames of the abjured?

  2. “You’re a funny guy, Donny. That’s why I’m going to zing you last.”

    1. Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe.

      1. Conchfritters

        The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.

  3. It was a fucking joke, is it really worth analyzing to death?

    And you know what? Good for Trump because the National Prayer Breakfast is stupid and deserves to die an undignified death. Trump shitting all over DC’s phony customs is going to be one of the positives of his presidency.

    1. CHECK OUT THE TRUMP SUPPORTERS FREAKING OUT GOD YOU PEOPLE NEVER STOP I MEAN DONT YOU EVEN LIBERTARIAN BRO THIS IS IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR THE RESISTANCE

      1. Libertymike

        Last week you asked me why I was emphasizing the point that the Hildebeast outpolled the Donald by almost three million votes and why does it matter.

        It matters because:

        (1) It matters to the carnival barking crony-capitalist-in-chief;

        (2) It is astounding that he lost the popular vote to one of the most corrupt, odious, vile, and unlikeable candidates ever nominated by one of the two parties of state;

        (3) It is a fact that no matter how much “electoral college, man” and “this is a republic, man” virtue signaling one may do, that he lost the popular vote by a significant margin;

        (4) The popular tally renders “I have a mandate” utterly gormless; and

        (5) It is important for a purveyors of news, thought, and opinion to remind their listeners, readers, and viewers that the Donald was unable to persuade the majority of the electorate to vote for him and that he came in with more of the country opposed to his crony capitalist ways.

        1. i didn’t really care that much, mike.

        2. Lurk Diggler

          I don’t think anyone cares that NY and California are filled with living or dead voters that love Hillary.

          1. WTF sloopysmommatters

            Seriously, NY and CA are filled with Hillary voters as well as Republicans who don’t bother to vote because they know that the electoral votes from their state are going D anyway. This is why the candidates don’t campaign to try to maximize popular vote totals, because that’s not how you win. The fact that people think the popular vote in such a case is meaningful is pretty silly.

            1. Tony

              Hey guess what, Trump was never going to make up a 3 million vote deficit by doing a couple rallies in California, and when you’re asking a group of people (the American electorate) to make a choice between two things, then there better be a good fucking reason why the loser of that vote gets to win.

              “So that we can have the worst fucking idea of a president anyone could ever possibly fathom” is not that reason.

              1. Rhywun

                No, but “this is how the Constitution specifies how to elect a president” is.

                Don’t like it? Change it.

                1. ‘This is how the Constitution specifies how to elect a president”

                  Ah, but you didn’t use the term “gormless” so that is merely Virtue Signaling! (strokes pointy beard)

                  1. I had to look up “gormless” and I see that “gormless” means pretty much the same as “brainless”. Then assume “gormless” = “brainless”, clearly!

                    Ergo, “gorm” = “brain”. As I age, I am getting more and more gormless? My gorm crawls out of my skullcase and abandons me (only sporadically, temporarily, so far, thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster!). Then it crawls back in?

                    So I have composed a poem for all ye Reasonoids?
                    The gorms crawl in, the gorms crawl out,
                    The gorms play pinochle on your snout,
                    They eat your eyes, they eat your nose,
                    They eat the jelly between your toes.
                    A big green gorm with rolling eyes
                    Crawls in your stomach and out your sides.
                    Your stomach turns a slimy green,
                    And pus pours out like whipping cream.
                    You’ll spread it on a slice of bread,
                    And that’s what you eat when you are dead.”[4]

              2. WTF sloopysmommatters

                Welcome to Retardation: A Celebration. Now, hopefully, I’m gonna dispel a few myths, a few rumors. First off, the retarded don’t rule the night. They don’t rule it. Nobody does. And they don’t run in packs. And while they may not be as strong as apes, don’t lock eyes with ’em, don’t do it. Puts ’em on edge. They might go into berzerker mode; come at you like a whirling dervish, all fists and elbows. You might be screaming “No, no, no” and all they hear is “Who wants cake?” Let me tell you something: They all do. They all want cake.

            2. Episteme

              CA had two D Senate candidates running against each other (with no R option) in a blue state, so the disparate number of Hillary votes makes perfect sense.

        3. NoVaNick

          Hillary did not command a majority either. What is needed is if neither candidate gets 50% of the vote, there is a do-over of the election with new candidates-not a run-off.

          1. What is needed is if neither candidate gets 50% of the vote, there is a do-over of the election with new candidates-not a run-off.

            boring. no Thunderdome? Or head-2-head texas hold-em

            1. Unfair. Strokeface Clinton would have the upper hand.

          2. Rhywun

            Enh, I’m quite OK without “mandates”.

            1. that’s not what i heard.

              1. *slow clap*

          3. (((Renegade)))dicksoutforkaren

            So what happens during the year or so it takes to select the new candidates?

        4. Are we talking about Hillary Clinton or Bill Clinton?. Because as you’ll recall, Bill Clinton lost the popular vote by almost 14,000,000 votes, and I don’t recall (and believe me, I’m trying) the purveyors of news, thought and opinion repeatedly reminding their listeners, readers and viewers that Bill Clinton was unable to persuade the majority of the electorate to vote for him. Said purveyors were all too happy to declare that Clinton had a mandate.

          Point being, that makes the 3,000,000 votes Trump lost by a much smaller number and much less significant in my mind.

          I don’t think it should be ignored that Democrats were so afraid of Donald Trump that they were willing to vote for Richard Nixon instead, but I think there’s more nuance here. And the nuance is that as bloody awful as Donald Trump was, Hillary couldn’t command a larger popular vote lead than she did.

          1. Or shorter:

            Donald Trump was so bad, he couldn’t beat Hillary Clinton in the popular vote.

            Hillary Clinton was so bad, she only beat Trump in the pop. vote by less than 3,000,000 votes, and lost more electoral votes than Trump did.

            See? You can look at this turd from many interesting angles.

          2. Where are you getting that 14,000,000 from? Here is what I show for 1992 & 1996 vote totals:

            1992
            Presidential
            Candidate Vice Presidential
            Candidate Political
            Party Popular Vote Electoral Vote
            William Clinton Albert Gore Jr. Democratic 44,909,806 43.01% 370 68.8%
            George Bush J. Danforth Quayle Republican 39,104,550 37.45% 168 31.2%
            H. Ross Perot James Stockdale Independent 19,743,821 18.91% 0 0.0%
            Andre Marrou Nancy Lord Libertarian 290,087 0.28% 0 0.0%
            Y Other (+) – – 378,347 0.36% 0 0.0%

            1996
            Nominee Bill Clinton Bob Dole Ross Perot
            Party Democratic Republican Reform
            Home state Arkansas Kansas Texas
            Running mate Al Gore Jack Kemp Pat Choate
            Electoral vote 379 159 0
            States carried 31 + DC 19 0
            Popular vote Bill Clinton 47,401,185 Bob Dole 39,197,469 Ross Perot 8,085,294
            Percentage 49.2% 40.7% 8.4%

            Where is that 14,000,000?

            1. Utilitarian

              I’m pretty sure he’s adding Bush’s and Perot’s 1992 vote totals and subtracting Clinton’s 1992 vote total.

              1. Yes, and that’s the metric that mattered. Everyone who voted voted. They’re in the count. People who voted for GHWB and Perot, when combined:

                Popular vote Clinton: 44,909,806 Bush: 39,104,550 Perot: 19,743,821

                Voters not voting for Clinton: 58,848,371
                Voters voting for Clinton: 44,909,806

                Clinton lost the popular vote by: 13,938,565

                As LibertyMike stresses above, if losing the Pop. vote by 3,000,000 votes is of paramount importance, what was losing the popular vote by 13,000,000 votes?

        5. one true athena

          She spent tens of millions of dollars in Louisiana and California (probably NY too, though that part I don’t know for sure) buying ads and getting out the vote deliberately to run up her popular vote total because her campaign was afraid of winning the electoral college but losing the popular vote. Meanwhile she didn’t bother to set foot in Wisconsin and her Michigan campaign was fucked over because they thought they had it in the bag, and the top didn’t listen to the people on the ground there. This is all nicely laid out in a politico article about her loss and what was really going on.

          She did it to herself. Her popular vote total means nothing except that she campaigned in the wrong damn states.

        6. one true athena

          She spent tens of millions of dollars in Louisiana and California (probably NY too, though that part I don’t know for sure) buying ads and getting out the vote deliberately to run up her popular vote total because her campaign was afraid of winning the electoral college but losing the popular vote. Meanwhile she didn’t bother to set foot in Wisconsin and her Michigan campaign was fucked over because they thought they had it in the bag, and the top didn’t listen to the people on the ground there. This is all nicely laid out in a politico article about her loss and what was really going on.

          She did it to herself. Her popular vote total means nothing except that she campaigned in the wrong damn states.

          1. one true athena

            and the squirrels spent lots of money in the wrong states too, apparently

    2. How can you tell it was a joke? As far as I can tell Trump has no sense of timing or even the ability to modulate his tone of voice.

    3. John Titor

      Exactly. Having an ‘unserious’ President willing to shit all over the bloody royal court etiquette and at least damage the Cult of the Presidency is an immediate benefit of Trump. Presidents should bathe naked in the Potomac again dammit.

      1. And almost die of malaria.

        1. KDN

          They should die of malaria more often. The public needs to realize that these guys are replaceable.

      2. Libertymike

        Wake me when he:

        (1) Refuses secret service protection, like a real, true strongman would do;

        (2) Travels on his own dime and not on Air Force One;

        (3) Insists that there be no street clearing motorcades for himself;

        (4) Fires all IRS employees;

        (5) Fires all Homeland Security employees;

        (6) Fires all FBI employees;

        (7) Fires all CIA employees;

        (8) Fires all EPA employees;

        (9) Fires all NSA employees; and

        (10) Drains the entire swamp.

        1. Private Chipperbot

          Check out Rumpelstiltskin over here.

        2. (1) Refuses secret service protection, like a real, true strongman would do;

          ?!

          Khadaffi, Hitler and Assad had no personal security? I thought that the more strongman-ey you were, the more personal security you needed.

          (4) Fires all IRS employees;

          (5) Fires all Homeland Security employees;

          (6) Fires all FBI employees;

          (7) Fires all CIA employees;

          (8) Fires all EPA employees;

          (9) Fires all NSA employees; and

          (10) Drains the entire swamp.

          Not going to happen. Remember, Hillary “Total State” Clinton won the popular vote by 3,000,000.

        3. Hangin' with Agent Cooper

          Trump is anything but a Libertarian, so you can wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which fills up first.

  4. And somewhere in heaven, Jesus is tweeting smdh.

    Don’t be disrespectful, Gillespie. Jesus is probably rolling over in His grave.

    1. mad.casual

      And somewhere in heaven, Jesus is tweeting smdh

      Jesus/SMOD 2017!

      1. Mongo

        sjdh

    2. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

      Listen, pagan, Jesus is rolling over in heaven, and only as he jumps some wicked waves on his wakeboard.

    3. Hangin' with Agent Cooper

      And so Nick criticizes a bad joke with a worse joke?

      Got it.

      Put The Jacket back in charge.

  5. A strong Congress? Lolski.

  6. Mencken Sense

    I long for the sober seriousness of the Obama Administration…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpeE5WyfiGw

  7. Chipwooder

    Substantive criticism of the shitty things Trump is doing is a good thing. This…what is this? Why do I give a shit about Trump making fun of Schwartzenegger?

  8. to be honest.

    Nick, please = tbh

    You’ll never going to fool the kids into thinking you’re twitter-hip at this rate. Next you’ll be asking people to watch you nae nae.

    1. John Titor

      “Greetings fellow children, do you have any marijuana reefer to smoke?”

      1. Catch you on the flipside, dudemeisters

        1. Cool Beans!

          1. That’s RAD homie

        2. Cool Beans!

          1. Squirrel Beans?!

            1. Trshmnstr hates nurse beaters

              Leave the squirrel’s beans alone! That’s probably why he harasses us so much!

    2. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

      Next you’ll be asking people to watch you nae nae.

      He wants people to watch his John Pinnette impression? Millenials have no idea who that was.

      1. Glide

        Unfair! I’m a millennial and he’s a staple of my standup Pandora station.

  9. WhatAboutBob

    The president is an unserious man…

    Wait, I thought he was the next Hitler.

    1. Mencken Sense

      He can be two things!

      1. John

        You can say a lot of things about Hitler. Unserious, however, is not one of them. I can think of about 13 million reasons why Hitler was a very serious man.

        1. WTF sloopysmommatters

          You know what other Austrian was the target of an American President’s scorn?

          1. Private Chipperbot

            The language?

          2. $park? is totally a Swifty

            Malcolm Turnbull?

          3. Von Mises?

          4. Mongo

            Crocodile Dundee?

          5. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

            Francis Joseph I?

            1. Number.6

              AHNULD!

          6. Ludwig von Mises?

        2. Conchfritters

          Crystal meth.

  10. Please, more posts on impotent, ginned up, Twitter outrage.

    1. This is apparently what’s in Reason’s wheel house now. Sigh.

      Anyone know any other good libertarian rags? Asking for a friend.

      1. An unserious man aided by an unserious press used an unserious medium to become president, and that is something you must take seriously.

        1. Must I?

          1. Apparently.

            1. Drat.

              *kicks pebble*

              1. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

                [Throws rock.]

            2. Number.6

              [Burns Mighty Edifices of Capitalism]

        2. Episteme

          Why. So. Serious?

      2. Let’s start our own libertarian website. With blackjack and hookers!

        1. Now you’re speaking my language!

          1. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

            You can make a lot of money!

            1. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

              What I mean is that I heard you were good at blackjack.

        2. And whisky…please.

        3. WTF sloopysmommatters

          You mean Mexicans, ass-sex and pot!

          1. All of the above!

      3. Anyone know any other good libertarian rags?

        I like to reread 1980s issues of Hustler and Soldier of Fortune myself

        1. I’m assuming at the same time… side-by-side?

          1. KDN

            He’s never quite sure which one is giving him the boner.

            1. “Is that an RPG-7 in your pocket, or are just liking that centerfold?”

          2. ALWAYS

            1. You must have a reading rack, otherwise you wouldn’t be left with a hand available for other duties as assigned.

              1. i arrange them on the dashboard of my vehicle

      4. Just Say'n

        Spiked.com is a great publication. It isn’t ‘libertarian’ per se, but they are very old school liberal (what the Democratic Party use to be when it cared about ‘free speech’ and such).

        Otherwise, I like Libertarian Republic and Rare.us is pretty good

        1. Thank you! I will be checking them out.

          1. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

            There are sometimes good discussions at:

            http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
            http://www.targetliberty.com/

            1. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

              http://www.coyoteblog.com/
              http://strike-the-root.com/

              1. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

                http://cafehayek.com/
                https://liberty.me/

      5. FEE is pretty good. Not a lot of comments, though.

        1. The Case for Wearing Just One Style of Sock

          … Go on…

          1. Trshmnstr hates nurse beaters

            *tries to extinguish the GILMORE signal*

          2. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

            I saw the title, immediately knew that was Jeff Tucker.

      6. 68W58

        Samizdata.

  11. John

    So Trump made a joke about praying for his replacement on the Apprentice. And this means what? What the hell is Nick’s point here?

    Also, it is a bit ironic for a guy who is nearly 50, the editor of a allegedly serious magazine and who walks around all of the time in a leather jacket like he is Fonsi to call anyone “not a serious man”.

    1. jdd6y

      The libertarian establishment is just a stale and corrupt as the taste great/less filling establishments are. Shark jumping is on the menu, I’m sure of it.

      1. Libertymike

        Is Mrs. C on the menu?

        1. Hangin' with Agent Cooper

          HEY NOW.

  12. Aloysious

    Otherwise the GOP will be little more than waterboys for a fundamentally unserious man who can do a hell of a lot of damage to all aspects of the United States and the world

    Don’t forget, there is always an element within the stupid party that will, as they like to say, ‘cross the isle to work together’. Or however they phrase it. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, etc.

    I would bet that they will get a lot of attention in the mainstream media. Whether they will be effective or not, I don’t know.

    1. WTF sloopysmommatters

      And by “working together” they mean “give the Dems whatever they want”. But it’s totally worth it because the editorial pages love them!

  13. The convergence is nigh.

    1. * REPENT NOW

  14. Just Say'n

    If anything is known, it is that Trump is a petty man and is as elegant a speaker as Gary Johnson (at least Johnson can argue that he’s high half the time). But, pointing out a petty remark that he made at the prayer breakfast as an example of his danger is the depth more attuned to Vox than Reason (although, is there a difference anymore, in all seriousness?).

    Just stick to actual policy. Like, his executive order regarding administrative rules. Maybe forgo one pants shitting article about the refugee policy and write about that, maybe. There are good things that have already happened for those that actually want to limit the size and scope of the state (is that even an issue for Reason, anymore?). Like his court pick, which you seem to have a problem with for no reason whatsoever or the executive order limiting administrative rules (seriously, why has there been no article about this?).

    Save your witty banter for ‘real libertarians’ like Bill Maher

    1. John

      I don’t even see why what he said was petty. It was a joke and not a particularly bad one. Maybe I am just a big meanie or not a serious person, but I can’t for the life of me understand what the hell Nick is talking about.

      1. Cyto

        To use the Presidential podium at the national prayer breakfast to brag about your ratings as a reality host vs Arnold’s ratings is pretty obviously beneath the moment and the office.

        It has nothing to do with policy or anything else, but damn, son…. I don’t get this idiot at all. He’s got a tin ear, but somehow it ends up working out for him. You don’t talk shit during a prayer introduction at a public ceremony. It kinda undermines the entire “prayer” thing.

        He’s a doofus. The guy is President, and he’s worried about ratings on a show he used to work for.

        I will say this in his defense. It doesn’t seem to be slowing him down (for good or for ill)

        1. John

          To use the Presidential podium at the national prayer breakfast to brag about your ratings as a reality host vs Arnold’s ratings is pretty obviously beneath the moment and the office.

          He is President, not God emperor. And it was the National Prayer Breakfast not the State of the Union or a state funeral. Get over yourself.

          And it is entirely reasonable to dislike his policies. But given his accomplishments in life, beyond just getting elected, calling him a doofus is just wrong and says more about the speaker than it does about Trump.

          Ronald Reagan cracked jokes, and often very funny ones all of the time. He once cracked a joke about starting World War III before he recorded his weekly radio address., Was Reagan a doofus unworthy of the grand and holy office of President too?

          1. mad.casual

            And it is entirely reasonable to dislike his policies. But given his accomplishments in life, beyond just getting elected, calling him a doofus is just wrong and says more about the speaker than it does about Trump.

            I’d say this to the billionth degree about Dreger identifying as ‘scientist’ (or Nick doing so) and calling him out on this. She might as well go on to say, “I’m not black, don’t do physical labor, and I don’t own guns but is this the America Frederick Douglas would want?”

            You have to be an exceptional Neo-Puritanical tightass to think prayer breakfasts and flippant jokes don’t go together. Moreover, isn’t this exactly what the Left has been kicking Christians in the nuts over for decades? Lighten up! Don’t take your religion so seriously! If Jesus Christ *and* Fred Phelps are rolling in their graves over this not-legally-binding comment at a breakfast, can we call it a wash?

            1. John

              Like I say below, the editor of Reason magazine suddenly worrying about the sanctity of prayer is pretty humorous and a better joke than the one Trump told.

            2. Hangin' with Agent Cooper

              hink prayer breakfasts and flippant jokes don’t go together.

              Have you ever been to a sermon?

              Flippant jokes abound.

              Also, get rid of the stupid prayer breakfast altogether.

              1. Episteme

                I’m reminded of the slapstick of our Knights of Columbus Pancake Breakfasts. Last weekend, the retired priest offering the Benediction joked about the Retired Priests’ Home being “the Home for Unwed Fathers.” I asked the Grand Knight if we could get the alter boy a cymbal to strike if this continued.

  15. Homple

    The president is an unserious man who is weilding [sic]a huge amount of power.

    No, Nick, Trump is fundamentally serious, and you know it, which accounts for your frequent episodes of Hosenschei?ung.

  16. Lord Rollingpin

    The Gillespie is an unserious man who is weilding a huge amount of power. Will the commentariate keep him in check?

    1. Only if he starts wilding a huge amount of power!

    2. WTF sloopysmommatters

      The Jacket actually wields the power. Nick is just its host.

      1. Episteme

        The Jacket is basically similar to the Venom symbiote.

  17. John

    If anyone is an asshole on the twitter feed in question it is Alice Dreger, whoever she is. Trump made a joke. It wasn’t tasteless or offensive. Meanwhile Dreger makes a pretty nasty and tasteless response. Yes, Alice, Jesus did die for that just like he died for your sorry ass.

    1. Episteme

      The irony is that it was the pharisetical way to set up cordons around behavior so as to not accidentally break the Law, effectively outlawing other activities or being around those who might be practicing those lest one slide toward breaking a specifically prohibited Law. The gist of how Jesus’s teachings differed was in focusing on the key moral rationales behind the laws rather than then their legalistic meanings, such that those cordons ? and the traps they created that ensnared the least of us, those who the Pharisees feared the corruption of ? were unnecessary.

      The pharisetical temptation is one that has always existed in Christianity, because believers are afraid (like Peter on the water) of following in the footsteps of the perfect without a guide, yet that doesn’t excuse us from making such light of “he prayed wrong” as if Trump was either (our choice) a Pharisee or Tax Collector in the Temple offering supplecations in a way that we disapprove of.

      (apologies for the sidestep in theology)

  18. chemjeff

    Well, here is a little bit of background on the National Prayer Breakfast that I found after a little bit of searching. Can’t say it is completely comprehensive, but here it is.

    http://time.com/4202899/nation…..t-history/

    I don’t really mind all that much that they take time out to pray or what have you. It irks me a little bit that they are doing this on the public’s dime. But on the list of outrages, this one is pretty far down the list IMO.

    I guess the event has never been one of solemn worship, only really a gathering of people who think faith is important. So I guess it isn’t some cardinal sin that Trump uses this occasion to crack some joke.

    But still…. It’s just tacky. Pray for someone on some TV show? Really?

    1. mad.casual

      It irks me a little bit that they are doing this on the public’s dime. But on the list of outrages, this one is pretty far down the list IMO.

      I guess the event has never been one of solemn worship, only really a gathering of people who think faith is important. So I guess it isn’t some cardinal sin that Trump uses this occasion to crack some joke.

      I’ve never been to, seen, or read about the National Prayer Breakfast prior to today, but am astounded to learn that the public at large is generally this ignorant about prayer breakfasts. Even the foreigners I’ve worked with, having minimal understanding of American and/or Christian culture, seem to get the gist that large meals, togetherness, and explicit somber are only normal or appropriate at funerals or similar tragedies or remembrances.

      It’s like you people were raised by robots from a thousand years in the future and are just guessing at human behavior from fragmented historical records.

      1. Unfrozen Caveman chemjeff.

      2. chemjeff

        I will confess, I have never been to a “prayer breakfast” myself. So no I don’t really know what it’s like to have a large meal with a lot of other people explicitly on the matter of faith.

        Furthermore while have not been to church in a very long time, and I don’t consider myself to be a practicing member of any faith, I still try to have respect for faith and I don’t want to ridicule or trample on the role that faith plays in peoples’ lives. So when I hear “National Prayer Breakfast”, I think it is about people who believe faith is important in their lives, discussing faith-based topics. I don’t expect it to be just like your usual everyday breakfast at Denny’s. So when I read that Donald Trump is bragging about ratings and cracking jokes about praying for Arnold Schwarzenegger on some TV show, my gut reaction is that he is the one being disrespectful to the, if not explicit, then the implied faith-based purpose of this gathering. It would be kinda like if I went to a scientific conference and, in my presentation, started telling knock-knock jokes. At some point the audience would get annoyed that I’m using the occasion of this conference to engage in inappropriate humor, as opposed to discussing science. So, I don’t know.

        1. afk05

          I cannot for the life of me figure out why any libertarian would support Trump. He’s an authoritarian, which is the complete opposite side of the political spectrum from a libertarian. Yes, we all want to give a big FU to Washington and to shake things up, but he is not the way to do it. He has the potential to do far more harm than good. People are also ignoring the fact that you cannot elect one or a few people to government positions and expect to truly drain the swamp. This is why fighting for the libertarian party is so important. We need a third party in all levels of Washington in order to truly balance our government and bring liberty and freedom back to the people.

          My personal belief is that the L party should really reach out to both party members who are becoming disenfranchised. There are so many moderates who feel truly lost between all of the utter nonsense of both sides going on right now, and this is the absolute perfect opportunity to attract them to Libertarianism. I think far more people would join the party than they or we realize.

  19. junyo

    Will a GOP Congress keep him in check?
    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

    Oh, you were serious? Then no.

    Hell, you can’t get a group of self proclaimed “libertarians” to not gargle his choad sweat, and demand everyone else do likewise. What makes you think the whores in Congress would even formulate the thought?

    1. Lord Rollingpin

      Hi Tulpa, a new look.

  20. God damn, the Wendy’s display ads on Reason really work. I ran out and got an Asagio bacon ranch club and a fish sandwich. Keep it up reason, pairing that with taboola is pure win. /fat fucks unite

    1. *notices the server is a juggalo with a hatchet kid tattoo on his forearm*

      *weighs cost benefit of eating food served by juggalo*

      Fuckit *chomp*

      1. Report back any food poisoning issues, ok?

        1. No food poisoning! Decent lunch too.

          1. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

            Now go listen to some ICP and report back.

      2. Mongo

        The Lasik eye surgery ad on Taboola was cool.

        It looked like a blue beam shooting out of the eye like those baboons in the Ripley’s Believe It or Not horror comics.

  21. Illocust

    Good to see Trump hasn’t lost his sense of humor. It’s always been his strongest weapon. Besides, the freakouts it causes are often funnier than the joke.

    1. John

      Besides, the freakouts it causes are often funnier than the joke.

      This would be one of those times. The joke wasn’t that funny. But watching people liek Nick and Cryto above get all haughty about the “dignity of the office” is pretty funny.

  22. Donald Trump is a threat to liberty, so in response we will snarkily report on Twitter stuff, because that worked so well during the campaign. Take that, Trump!

    1. John

      During the campaign, Trump would say outrageous things in order to get his opponents to melt down and make fools of themselves. Now that he is President, he doesn’t even have to do that. He can say or do anything and they will melt down and make fools of themselves.

      1. I don’t know what’s more pathetic: the press coverage of Trump, or the fanboism that makes claims like you just did.

        1. John

          You know what is even more pathetic than that? People who have no sense of humor or irony.

          Exactly what caused you to take that statement literally? What about ti caused you to miss the humor in “people used to freak out when Trump said crazy things, now they freak out when he says anything” and think that it meant “Trump is so great anytime someone says anything bad about him it is just because they are melting down and making a fool of themselves over his greatness”? What went through your head when you posted your response? I would really like to know.

          Moreover, how do you look at a post that says nothing about Trump except that he said outrageous things during the campaign, hardly a compliment, and conclude it is a fanboy post for Trump and not meant as a slam on his critics, whom the post says are making fools of themselves? Again, what went through your head that caused you to conclude that?

          I can’t help but want to hear your thinking process in the same way people slow down when passing a car wreck.

          1. A nice, one-hundred word response that once again exposes your thin-skinned insecurity.

            Who does John remind me of?

            1. John

              Okay did you mean it sarcastically? If so, my sarcasm meter has never worked very well. So, did you?

              And as far as being thin skinned, I am not offended. I am just curious. Assuming you were not sarcastic, I am honestly baffled by why you would look at what I said and not see it as a joke.

              But maybe you did and I missed your joke.

              1. You immediately assumed my comment was about you, and wrote 100 words defending yourself.

                1. John

                  That just means I am pedantic and bored. And I have always had a bad feel for sarcasm on here.

                  Sorry I missed your joke.

                  1. The Twitter outrage about whatever Trump tweets is ridiculous, and it’s only noteworthy when he tweets using terms like “Muslim ban.” The “fanboism” is how his supporters (and some detractors) claim everything he tweets is an intentional ruse in order to either illicit a response or distract from an issue. As in, the infamous executive order came out in order to distract from, either a confirmation hearing, or Yemini raid, or Supreme Court choice, or whatever. It seems like massive projection from anyone and everyone.

                    1. John

                      Sometimes I think it is a ruse. This, however was not one of those times. I think he made a joke. That was the point of my joke. Trump doesn’t have to try and get his critics to go insane, they will do it on their own, no ruse necessary.

                    2. I agree with all of this.

                2. CampingInYourPark

                  fanboism that makes claims like you

                  The royal you?

                  1. Libertymike

                    Crusty, perhaps you should offer John an apology.

      2. chemjeff

        Look, I get it. You’re our resident Trump shill.

        But even you have to admit that making jokes about ratings, and praying for some guy on TV, at the occasion of a National Prayer Breakfast, is at the very least tacky?

        1. John

          Not really. I wasn’t there. So it is hard to judge. Beyond that, pointing at someone’s picture and saying “Jesus died for this?” is absolutely nasty and tacky under any circumstance.

          1. chemjeff

            Okay, I got it. Deflect and continue to shill.

            1. John

              No you don’t get it. But please continue to try and make issues out of stupid shit like this. If anyone is shilling for Trump, it is you. If he were paying you and Nick to be an ineffective opposition, you couldn’t do any more for him.

              1. chemjeff

                Whatever, John. I’m not FREAKING OUT over his stupid tacky joke. But I’m not going to pretend it was anything other than tacky and dumb, though.

        2. Illocust

          Cracking jokes when giving speeches is part of what makes a good speaker. The joke was incredibly mild, the sort I wouldn’t be surprised to hear coming from a “hip” pastor.

          1. John

            Thank you. This whole thread is a giant you have to be kidding me. Reason and some of its readers are suddenly concerned with the dignity of the Office of the Presidency and the sanctity and seriousness of prayer. This has to be the funniest and most bizarre post in the history of Hit and Run.

            1. Homple

              “Reason and some of its readers are suddenly concerned with the dignity of the Office of the Presidency and the sanctity and seriousness of prayer.”

              Pretty funny, that.

            2. Tony

              Only because you are here John.

              One day the headline will be “Trump takes shit on kitten on live TV” and you will be here defending his “dignity.”

              1. Libertymike

                No, Tony.

                John is making a good point with regard to the cognitive dissonance on display in this thread.

                Look, I have been critical of the Donald, including in this thread (yeah, I am going to be critical of anybody who falls short of my an-cap utopia). But, for the life of me, this joke / reference to Arnie and the ratings is much ado about nothing.

              2. WTF sloopysmommatters

                Welcome to Retardation: A Celebration. Now, hopefully, I’m gonna dispel a few myths, a few rumors. First off, the retarded don’t rule the night. They don’t rule it. Nobody does. And they don’t run in packs. And while they may not be as strong as apes, don’t lock eyes with ’em, don’t do it. Puts ’em on edge. They might go into berzerker mode; come at you like a whirling dervish, all fists and elbows. You might be screaming “No, no, no” and all they hear is “Who wants cake?” Let me tell you something: They all do. They all want cake.

            3. The Last American Hero

              No, the funniest and most bizarre post in the history of Hit and Run was the libertarian case for Obama article.

              1. ThomasD

                “the funniest and most bizarre post in the history of Hit and Run was the libertarian case for Obama article.”

                Amen Brother.

  23. Brett L

    Every single time any media (not THE media) cover Trump when he does wild, headline-grabbing things, it’s like watching Charlie Brown take a run at kicking the football. So the headlines today are: Trump makes stupid joke at prayer breakfast, Trump’s USSC nominee is a serious guy who everyone who isn’t a partisan Democrat likes, Trump either shits in Australian PM’s punchbowl or vows to review accepting refugees who tried to queue-jump Australia’s process, and Trump flies off to honor SEAL killed executing his directives as Commander-In-Chief.

    If I’m an occasional political consumer without strong ties to an ideology, should I believe Trump is literally Hitler, or that most reporters seem to be overegging the pudding in their articles about Trump? Which version of the Australia article should I believe? Don’t take the bait EVERY time.

    1. When in doubt, just turn to prayer.

    2. Illocust

      The Australia one in particular is going to resonate as a good idea for anyone who hears it. I can’t figure out why we would want to take in refugees that another first world country rejected.

      1. John

        It is unclear if it even happened the way it is being portrayed. But, if it didn’t, the story sounds like something Trump would want to be leaked. “Trump stands up to other country’s PM and says we are not going to take the refugees you think are too dangerous to enter your country”. Yeah, that is going to really hurt Trump with the voters. They have him now.

      2. Brett L

        Well, IFH had some good points to make about it. It would be like if we paid Mexico to take any Cuban refugees we used to turn around and send home. Only they are going 1000 miles across the Pacific instead of 100 miles across the Caribbean. And then Mexico couldn’t absorb any more and we asked Canada to take those extras for free since they are rich and can afford to. That said, everything appears to be on the table w/r/t immigration in America right now.

  24. Just Say'n

    FYI- This is what Jack Hunter (former aid to Rand Paul) is covering, rather than the Twitter rage that ‘Bill Maher Libertarian’ Nick is covering.

    http://rare.us/story/president…..-new-hope/

    Other Rare.us contributor

    http://rare.us/story/you-didnt…..ma-did-it/

    Not defending Trump- he is a vulgar and simple man, but I swear there are other things going on in the nation other than Nick’s twitter feed.

    1. John

      Look, Trump made a joke at the National Prayer Breakfast. Don’t you know how serious that is? And don’t you know how seriously Reason takes religion? I mean if there is any magazine that understands the seriousness and importance of the sacred and prayer, it is Reason.

    2. mad.casual

      At the top of their “Trending” list? Trump breaks “preposterous” campaign promise after meeting with pharma-lobby.

      At this point I’d say it looks like Rare.us leaves Reason holding it’s own dick but that wouldn’t accurately portray the amount of sucking going on at Reason.

  25. chemjeff

    I guess we need two Libertarian platforms:

    One for “Libertarians who hate Trump more than they hated Obama”

    One for “Libertarians who hated Obama more than they hate Trump”

    1. I think you should dwell on this to the exclusion of any other issue. it will get more interesting as time passes.

    2. Just Say'n

      Or…or…and I know this sounds crazy, but maybe, maybe, one for libertarians who care more about shrinking the size and scope of the state than care about whatever is now cool and woke

      1. Brett L

        Yes. My problem with the 20 immigration articles is that not one advocated for a policy set by Congress that gave the executive less power to interpret or a Constitutional amendment advocating free movement (if that is where Reason really is on the issue). Pissing about how this Emperor used his Imperial power for something we think is wrong is not really in the libertarian wheelhouse as I understand it.

      2. Trshmnstr hates nurse beaters

        Free Minds and Free Markets
        Woke Minds and Intersectional Solidarity

        H/T Pan

        1. Fatty Bolger

          For a magazine called Emotion…

          1. mad.casual

            *pours out drink*

          2. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

            Reason and emotion are inseparable.

  26. imho

    This sure sounds like Jezebel.

    Lo and behold. Anna Merlan has the same article up.

    All you need to do is lead off with something about cheetos and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

    Intersectionality with Jezebel is dangerous territory.

    1. Morning Wood for Sloopy's Mom

      I think jezebels are hot.

      1. imho

        i read all the articles with a guilty boner, same with jezebel

  27. Regarding my point in the other thread…

    More of the Jacob Sullum post (Gorsuch’s Track Record Suggests He Won’t Be Trump’s Rubber Stamp)

    Less of this article here

    The former is an article worth reading. The latter belongs in tabloid gossip

    1. Tony

      The fact that the most powerful man in the world is severely mentally ill is not tabloid gossip.

      That he managed to make a little joke out of his rant when he realized the audience was reacting in embarrassed shock at least shows maybe he’s capable of a modicum of self-reflection, which I suppose is also an important thing to know.

      1. What are you basing this severly mentally ill on? Are you a licensed psychiatrist to make a diagnosis?

        1. WTF sloopysmommatters

          He knows exactly what left-wing talking points to regurgitate; it’s what he bases everything on.

        2. Tony

          One doesn’t have to be, does one?

          1. Yep at least if you were going to be consistent as you have maintained only climate scientists can have opinion on climate (unless they contradict your narrative)

            1. Tony

              I’m sure I’ve never said such a thing.

              One should defer to relevant experts on complex matters when one doesn’t know about the subject.

              So let me qualify: as a layperson, I believe Trump to be severely mentally ill, and I hope he’ll get a real doctor and not that crazy-haired hippie one to examine him some day.

          2. Glide

            Tony, I’m diagnosing you with cancer. I’m not a medical doctor, but one doesn’t have to be, does one? Please start chemo tomorrow.

  28. Trshmnstr hates nurse beaters

    the Twitter feed of scientist Alice Dreger

    Who is this and why should I care what they put on Twitter?

    the former governor of California

    I know who he is, but why should I care what he put on Twitter?

    The real question in these early days will be who in the Republican Party will generally stand up to and rein Trump. Folks such as Mike Lee, the Utah senator who started the Article I project to reel in executive power and put Congress back in charge of lawmaking and spending priorities, need to step up their game fast. Otherwise the GOP will be little more than waterboys for a fundamentally unserious man who can do a hell of a lot of damage to all aspects of the United States and the world. Here’s Lee talking last summer about the need for a strong Congress. Judge him and his colleagues by whether they deliver, especially with a Republican in the White House.

    Ah, here’s the meat of the article… oh wait, it’s only a paragraph long.

  29. Fatty Bolger

    Obama would never tell a joke at something so serious as a prayer breakfast. Oh, wait, he did. Several times.

    Anyway, did anything happen at the breakfast that might be of actual interest to libertarians? Well, Trump did reaffirm his strong support for getting rid of the Johnson Amendment:

    “Our republic was formed on the basis that freedom is not a gift from government, but freedom is a gift from God. It was the great Thomas Jefferson who said, ‘The god who gave us life, gave us liberty,’ ” Trump said.

    He continued: “Jefferson asked, ‘Can the liberties of a nation be secured when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of god?’ Among those freedoms is the right to worship according to our own beliefs. That is why I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution. I will do that.”

    The Johnson amendment prohibits tax-exempt organizations like religious groups from endorsing or opposing political candidates, something Trump often mentioned on the campaign trail.

    1. John

      That is a very interesting issue. Churches don’t pay taxes. So, I understand why they should stay out of politics.

      Who are we kidding? Churches play politics all of the time both left and right. Does the Johnson Amendment really make much of a difference? Maybe but i am not sure it does.

      The other thing is that other non profits like environmental groups and such are pretty much entirely political groups and are huge players in politics. So why should churches be treated differently?

      At a deeper level, the question is can the government use tax exempt status as a way to effectively bribe associations and organizations into giving up their First Amendment Rights? I am not sure they should.

      1. Fatty Bolger

        Yes, it opens up a lot of questions. Speaking purely personally as an atheist, I’m not keen on increasing the political clout of religious organizations. But like you say, the government’s “buying off” of rights is problematic.

      2. Tony

        Solve the problem and make churches pay taxes like any other business.

        1. Churches are not really for profit so this wouldnt make sense

          1. Tony

            Tell that to Joel Osteen’s house.

        2. Trshmnstr hates nurse beaters

          I’ll tell ya what, Tony. I’ll make a deal with you. You can have your solution to the “problem,” and in exchange, a Constitutional amendment is passed that holds each and every Congresscritter joint and severally liable for every penny they spend over the previous year’s tax receipts. This would be a non-dischargeable debt that can be garnished from any source of income and required total liquidation of the Congresscritter’s wealth.

          You get what you want… punishment heaped on Christians. I get what I want… a balanced budget amendment with some teeth.

      3. It’s a bad law because it’s over-ripe for selective enforcement and that’s precisely what has happened with it in the past.

      4. Glide

        As a churchgoer I am adamantly FOR churches staying out of politics – but this is for the sake of the church, not for the sake of the politicians. Making a church outspokenly political is the best possible way to kill what a church is supposed to be about.

        Legally speaking, of course, I don’t think it should be anyone’s business but theirs if they want to poison their church by having a political platform.

        1. John

          Some churches will stay out of politics. And I suspect the ones that engage in it will often regret doing so. So I don’t think lifting this ban will have as much effect as people think. Also, just as many or more churches are liberal leaning than there are conservative leaning. So, if either side thinks this is going to release the kraken of the religious right, I think they are mistaken.

          1. Episteme

            There’s a distinction between not being able to campaign for/support any candidate (per the Johnson rule) versus not being in any way political. Different churches are political in different ways, and I support that (since religion is based heavily moral and social messaging). As a Catholic, I make sure to carefully read the voter guides that USCCB put out each year, even if I don’t always agree 100% on where my focus as a voter should lay (it’s likewise interesting to read/listen to other faiths’ voter information).

            Because churches are at heart community groups, they’re well-founded to understand and enunciate the concerns of the community, even if a given reader disagrees. I have interesting conversations with my father, for example, over what inner-city Jesuits produce ? he, a Fox News guy, sees the leftist material as de facto non-Catholic, while I argue its role in political discourse.

      5. ThomasD

        ” Churches don’t pay taxes. So, I understand why they should stay out of politics.”

        I don see how this necessarily follows.

        Churches are tax exempt because the power to tax is the power to destroy. And this is a nation founded on religious liberty.

        Christian Progressives have been getting away with mixing religion and politics for well over a hundred years. If others want to get in on the act so be it.

  30. Tony i am going to call a prayer service for you.

    We will pray that one day you find happiness and stop being such a miserable human being. To enjoy life and to see the hate for others wither from your heart. Also that you will develop compassion and help people in need istead of being a stingy scrooge expecting others to do it while you take credit. Heal thy loathing ways

    God bless

  31. Spartacus

    Just a joke, and totally not a plug for his show. At all.

    Really, the only thing missing at this point is the bunga bunga parties.

  32. Sorry, I don’t get how you segue from “Trump prays for Arnold Schwarzenegger” to “Trump sucks.” Can someone explain this?

  33. Domestic Dissident

    “This is going to be the funniest joke ever, believe me.”

  34. The Late P Brooks

    Otherwise the GOP will be little more than waterboys for a fundamentally unserious man who can do a hell of a lot of damage to all aspects of the United States and the world.

    Oh, no. Trump’s wrecking the saintly priesthood of Public Service!

    Speaking of unserious…

  35. Uncle Jay

    RE: Trump vs. Schwarzenegger vs. Jesus’s Sacrifice
    The president is an unserious man who is wielding a huge amount of power. Will a GOP Congress keep him in check?

    Of course the republicans will keep Trump in check.
    Just like the democrats kept Obozo in check.
    Let the disasters continue!

  36. The president is an unserious man

    Then why do I read 50 articles a day around these parts about why I should take him so seriously?

  37. “The real question in these early days will be who in the Republican Party will generally stand up to and rein Trump.”

    No one, Nick. Any other questions?

Please to post comments

Comments are closed.